For 20 years, I’ve been advocating for people living with hepatitis C. I was diagnosed with hep C (formerly known as non-A, non-B hepatitis) in the early days of George H.W. Bush’s presidency. Clinton was president during my first treatment; George W. Bush resided during my second treatment. Obama held the office when I was cured.
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Myth #1: People acquired hepatitis C from drugs. This is sometimes true, but not completely true. I was infected from a blood transfusion, and I wasn’t the only one. There are many risk factors for hep C. Yes, currently, drug use is the most common way hep C is spread. However, medical transmission of hep C is still occurring.
We used to think that the reason that so many baby boomers were infected is because we were out shooting drugs while listening to rock and roll. However, all that was turned on its head by research published in The Lancet (March 30, 2016) titled, “The Spread of Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 1a in North America: A Retrospective Phylogenetic Study.”
Jeffrey Joy and colleagues found that most of the spread of the common hep C genotype (1a) in North America occurred before 1965, and peaked in 1950. They theorized that the majority of the pre-1965 spread of genotype 1a occurred because of medical reasons rather than injection drug use or other behavior-related causes (unsafe tattooing, high risk sex practices, etc.). At that time, needles and syringes were reused. Infection control was not nearly what it is today. However, medical transmission of hep C still exists.